Trump threatened NATO: "If they don't help us..."

Trump told the Financial Times that he might postpone a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for late March, if Beijing does not help unblock the crucial shipping route that carries one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

“It is only appropriate that those who benefit from the strait help ensure that nothing bad happens there. If there is no response, or if the response is negative, I think it will be very bad for NATO’s future,” Trump said, noting that Europe and China are heavily dependent on oil from Gulf countries, unlike the United States.

Trump had previously called on China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom to join a “team effort” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for ships blocked by Iranian forces, but he expressed pessimism that U.S. allies would heed his requests for assistance.

When asked to specify what kind of assistance he needed, Trump said that allies should send mine-clearance ships, which Europe has far more of than the U.S., as well as European commandos or other military support to remove the Iranians who are blocking the Persian Gulf with drones and naval mines.

“We are hitting them very hard. They have nothing else but to cause a little trouble in the strait, but these people are the users and they should help us control it. We will help them. But they should also be there. It takes a lot of people to oversee a few,” Trump emphasized.

The U.S. president also said he expects China to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz before he travels to Beijing later this month for a meeting with Xi Jinping, which would be his first trip to China in his second term.

“I think China should also help because China gets 90 percent of its oil from the strait,” Trump said.

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He added that the U.S. would like to know Beijing’s stance before his planned trip to China.

“We would like to know beforehand. It’s a long time. We might postpone,” Trump said, noting that he is scheduled to travel to Beijing in two weeks.

After speaking earlier on Sunday with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump expressed particular disappointment with the United Kingdom’s response so far.

“Britain could be considered our number-one ally, the longest-standing, and so on, and when I asked them to come, they didn’t want to come. And as soon as we basically eliminated Iran’s capacity to pose a threat, they said, ‘Well, we’ll send two ships,’ and I said, ‘We need these ships before we win, not after we win.’ I have long said that NATO is a one-way street,” Trump emphasized.

Trump added that any risk to allies moving their forces into the Persian Gulf would be minimal, as the U.S. and Israel have destroyed Iran’s military capabilities over the past two weeks.

He warned that the U.S. is ready to launch new attacks on Harg Island, an Iranian oil export hub, and that it could target its oil infrastructure.

“You saw that yesterday we hit Harg Island, everything except the pipes (oil pipelines). We can hit that in five minutes too. And they can’t do anything about it,” Trump said.

When asked whether Russia is helping Iran with satellite data to target U.S. and Israeli missile defense systems, Trump said he “doesn’t know either way.”

“But you could also say that we’ve somewhat helped Ukraine. It’s hard to say—‘you’re targeting us, but we were helping Ukraine,’” Trump said. “So, it’s hard to say—‘what are you doing’ when we were doing the same thing,” he concluded.